Politico’s out today with an exclusive bombshell about Nikki Haley. Well, actually, it’s more of a bombshell about people who donated to her nonprofit organization Stand For America:
NEW: Nikki Haley's secret donors revealed
Politico obtained a tax doc divulging names of 71 donors who anonymously gave to Haley's dark-money nonprofit after she left the Trump admin
Clearest picture yet of how a potential '24 contender is gearing uphttps://t.co/z0ge5DZerz
— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) August 26, 2022
More from Politico’s Alex Isenstadt:
Like other nonprofits, Stand For America files an annual tax return with the IRS. While the agency and the nonprofit must make those filings available to the public, including the amounts of contributions to the group, such nonprofits do not have to disclose the identities of their donors.
However, the organization Documented, which describes itself as a nonpartisan government watchdog that investigates money in politics, obtained an unredacted copy of Stand For America’s 2019 filings, which it then shared with POLITICO. The group did not share the original source of the filing, but it bears a stamp from the charity office of the New York state attorney general.
The disclosures provide the clearest picture yet of how a prospective 2024 presidential candidate is cultivating a secret network of high-dollar contributors as she builds a political apparatus. And the names of her donors demonstrate the deep connections Haley has formed at the top levels of the Republican Party, with some of the GOP’s biggest super PAC donors among those who gave money to fund the launch of her organization after she left the Trump administration.
Isenstadt’s article also features a link to the list of donor names, in case you’re interested. For the record, we’re not interested. Because we have a very difficult time believing that it was obtained using above-board methods.
Haley team moved to stop pub of this story, with attorney @olmikester writing in a cease and desist that Politico “was not authorized to receive the confidential tax return information, nor is Politico entitled to print, publish, or even retain it.”https://t.co/z0ge5DIbpz
— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) August 26, 2022
Yeah, well, Team Haley is right about that, at least based on the Politico story.
Lynn Oberlander, an attorney for Ballard Spahr representing Politico, responded that the reporting on the funding of U.S. political activity “is in the public interest and fully protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”https://t.co/z0ge5DZerz
— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) August 26, 2022
These are tax documents. Tax documents with confidential information about anonymous donors.
Oh I guess stolen documents are okay again. https://t.co/kyD9CVUggB
— Juan Delgado (@BurritoHunting) August 26, 2022
Democrats doubled the size of the agency that won't stop leaking confidential financial info as part of their ongoing political targeting. https://t.co/0Q2L9gJBVA
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 26, 2022
…and @JoeBiden just allocated MORE of your money to the IRS to take out political opponents… https://t.co/B8QDdoBsWk
— GiraffinMeCrazy (@GiraffinC) August 26, 2022
This is highly unethical for @politico, knowing that these are leaked documents for TAX DOCUMENTS. Don’t ask why trust is at an all time low when this only happens to conservatives. https://t.co/z9YMqDonF6
— Facts First (@BaileyPersonal) August 26, 2022
It does seem to all flow in one direction, doesn’t it?
Odd that these tax leaks keep occurring only for one side. And that when groups are targeted for political reasons, it is also for that side. https://t.co/WiVgPclWH6
— Will (@Will_Redacted) August 26, 2022
Reporting, or fencing stolen property? You decide.
Follow up question: How come Democrat tax returns never get stolen and reported? https://t.co/1lrfu3kYFT
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) August 26, 2022
Weird.
Oh look. The IRS is leaking again.
Like clockwork https://t.co/Jl4SwkKVTw— LaurieAnn 🧚🏻♂️💫 (@mooshakins) August 26, 2022
We’re willing to bet that most of our readership doesn’t consist of millionaires or billionaires. But this should make all of you nervous. If someone can do this to wealthy donors, they can do it to you, too.
Tell me again how 87,000 new IRS won’t target conservatives? https://t.co/QdxeRZqofI
— Cutler Bryant (@CutlerBryantNC) August 26, 2022
We can’t tell you that. Because it’s all but certain that we’d be lying if we did.
If you think 87,000 new IRS agents that every single @HouseDemocrats and @SenateDems just hired won’t leak documents like these…
You’re an idiot https://t.co/TjaXzXjDZD
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) August 26, 2022
"The group did not share the original source of the filing, but it bears a stamp from the charity office of the New York state attorney general."
Appalling. There's got to start being consequences for people that keep leaking government info. https://t.co/mYtLKhvj0M
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) August 26, 2022
Oh, we’re sure there’ll be consequences. And those consequences will, if anything, be government promotions.
The people illegally leaking tax documents need to be identified and prosecuted. Disturbing that this keeps happening and reporters are more than happy to continue publishing. https://t.co/ba9yBHxonz
— Andrew Wagner (@andrewwagner) August 26, 2022
Shame on both Isenstadt and the parties who facilitated and perpetrated the IRS leak.
You know, Twitter, now would be an excellent time to enforce your Terms of Service, dontcha think? We sure think so.
Reported for posting hacked materials. https://t.co/HM15ilBINJ
— max (@MaxNordau) August 26, 2022
Is @Twitter going to ban the distribution of a story based on hacked information like they did with Hunter Biden? https://t.co/ViiBUULg8M
— Kayla Gowdy (@kayla_gowdy) August 26, 2022
I thought Twitter didn’t post stories about leaked documents https://t.co/RtQWsXd5Ck
— RyanL (@rclong1997) August 26, 2022
That’s what they’ve told us. But it’s not what we believe.
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Update:
Nikki Haley has sent out this tweet regarding the egregious violation of donor confidentiality:
https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1563236130199220224
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